How does the amount of movement and observer expertise shape the perception of motion aesthetics in dance?

Abstract

Purpose. research on empirical aesthetics suggests that specific kinematic parameters are related to the perception of motion aesthetics. Furthermore, an observer's expertise seems to be related to the perception of motion aesthetics when complex biological motion stimuli are present. the central aim of this study was to investigate whether the amount that specific body parts moved during a complex motor skill was related to the perception of motion aesthetics in observers with different levels of sensory-motor expertise. Methods. Overall, 36 participants divided into 2 groups (18 dancers and 18 non-dancers) were asked to indicate their perceived motion aesthetics when they watched stick-figure video sequences of 3 different semi-standardized dance skills. the stick-figure video sequences were generated from original motion stimuli, and motion aesthetics were measured via Likert scales. Results. the perception of motion aesthetics in relation to the amount that specific body parts move is skill-and expertisespecific. Dance poses are perceived similarly by dancers and non-dancers, but motion aesthetics during dance jumps and turns are perceived differently. Furthermore, the amount that specific body parts move affects whether the observer perceives the motor skills as more or less aesthetic. Conclusions. the observer's sensory-motor expertise regarding the observed motor skills can shape their perception of motion aesthetics. the findings of this study demonstrate that there is a skill-and expertise-specific relationship between motion kinematics and motion aesthetics.

The impact of visual display of human motion on observers’ perception of music performance

“…The understanding of this phenomenon has motivated a corpus of perceptual studies which imply the presentation of biological motion accurately enough to identify subtle differences, but also standardized enough to narrow the attention to the motion itself. It has been demonstrated that factors like the observers' level of expertise [14,15], or the performers' gender [16] and motion type [3,4,17] influence the judgement of observers, but little data is found concerning the impact of the type of visual display adopted to present the stimuli, or the criteria used in its selection.…”

“…Within the broader scope of biologic motion perception, four display types are commonly used: traditional video footage [3,6,16,[18][19][20], point-light displays [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], stick figures [4,14,[34][35][36][37][38][39], and varied animated characters [24,32,[40][41][42][43][44]. Although regular video provides more ecological, realistic representations [18], the other displays enable the de-characterization of the subject, allowing for a better control of extraneous characteristics like gender [16] or dress style [20,45].…”

Aesthetic evaluation of body movements shaped by embodiment and arts experience: Insights from behaviour and fNIRS

“…Over time, though, modern choreographies became more commonplace, and audiences began to enjoy such "odd" movements increasingly so because these movements were gradually incorporated into their knowledge base 3,15 . The familiarity and fluency-based explanation of aesthetic appreciation provides a framework for the interaction between embodied expertise and visually acquired kinematic knowledge in aesthetic evaluations of body movements 16 .…”

Does the direction of shapes and bodies influence the aesthetic perception of stage setups in dance?

“…She considered that the observers feel attracted if the stimuli are symmetrical and the spatial mass is wellbalanced. the wide shape created by the large amplitude is also aesthetically preferred in dance movements [26][27][28]. it is important to mention that the aesthetic preference for symmetry depends on the context and the individual preferences or expertise [32].…”